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Christ's being and Summa Theologiae 3a Q17 art. 2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Dominic Ryan OP Open the ORCID record for Dominic Ryan OP [Opens in a new window]
Dominic Ryan OP*
Affiliation:
Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford
*
dominic.ryan@bfriars.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article argues that Summa Theologiae 3a Q17 art. 2 is consistent with the attribution of a proper being to Christ's human nature. It proceeds in three stages. First, it examines the emergence of the problem of Christ's being through an analysis of the Chalcedonian Decree. In so doing it argues that the decree commits its adherents to accepting that Christ's human nature was an individual nature and it shows how Aquinas used his account of natures and essences to interpret this. Second, it considers five objections to the view which denies a proper being to Christ's human nature. Third, it argues that Christ's individual human nature can possess a proper being because (i) esse does not render an individual nature a person and (ii) the character and function of the divine esse entails that it could not receive any new esse from the individual human nature Christ possesses.

Keywords

ChalcedonChristEsseEssenceHypostatic Union
Type
Original Articles
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 104 , Issue 1109 , January 2023 , pp. 57 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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